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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

New features on This Young Economist

If you have been following the blog for a while, you've likely noticed some changes recently. I've been tinkering with the blog's design in hopes of offering more with less clutter. Here are some new features you might enjoy.

1. Custom Search Box. If you want to find something specific, this is your go-to spot. I encourage you to search the blog for things you're interested in searching. Just the other day, a friend of mine told me that he searched "mesothelioma," and found no results. Now, he'll find this post.

2. Five Things I Read. I moved my daily five-things-I-read post to a different blog: http://fivethingsiread.blogspot.com/. On account of those posts, the blog was beginning to look cluttered. Clutter is hard to filter, so I chose to split those posts into their own space. For those of you who like the series, you'll still find reminders of five things I read.

3. Amazon Wheel and Wishlist. On the sidebar, you'll see a nifty wheel with some of my favorite books, and a list of things I'm looking to buy. Make no mistake. These are ads, but I wouldn't recomend the books if I didn't love them, and I wouldn't put something on the wishlist if I wasn't intrigued. If you're like me, you might want to give the wheel a spin (so to speak).

4. Other Decluttering.

I changed some of the ad placement and colors. Now, the ads don't stand out nearly as much, but maybe they're still tempting?

I moved the weekly poll to the top of the sidebar. This more prominent location reflects my priorities. I think the weekly polls are a fun component of the blog, and I'd like to encourage fun wherever possible.

5. Other Features.

I added a section of the sidebar with some of my favorite quotes at the moment.

I added a list of some of my favorite blogs. Frequent them if you don't already. There's good stuff in that list.

I added a list of the most viewed posts, the most viewed posts (lately), and my favorite posts.

6. Subscriptions. I have expanded the number of ways for you to subscribe to this blog. Of course, there's the feed and there's following me on Twitter, but now, there are two new options. You can

subscribe for updates via e-mail. Just enter your e-mail address in the subscription box on the sidebar and click Subscribe.